Caught in the Wind
by utdfan22
Summary: Luffy and the Straw Hats wind up landing on an island controlled by another pirate when their ship is damaged. He seems friendly enough but the ordinary people are terrified of him. That's not Luffy's problem though... yet. An attempt at writing something akin to a post-time skip "filler" arc (or possibly movie) with its own self-contained villains and locations.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Though I'd try a longer story and I've been kicking around a One Piece story for a while. I tried to shape an original "Filler" arc for the story, with its own self-contained villains and locations. P.S. Does anyone know what a wind-based Logia fruit should be called?**

The Thousand Sunny was a fascinating ship when one stopped to consider it, awe-inspiring really. Ignore the advanced technology and interesting design of what appeared to be a sunflower with a rodent's face, those are incidental. The ship was built with the parts of Treasure Tree Adam, the most valuable wood-type known to man and represented the dreams of hunted criminals seeking to cross a thousand seas and circle the globe.

With such majesty, one would think the ship would be treated with respect. Clearly, one was comically wrong as the ship was pelted with cannonballs and gunfire from the three Marine ships more-or-less surrounding the boat.

Before one of the metal balls could reach its target, a man with a straw hat on his head and an x-shaped scar on his chest charged towards it and ballooned his stomach to massive proportions.

The cannonball struck the flesh, which bent inwards like rubber, before snapping backwards and sending the projectile back into the vessel that had first launched it, a smoking crater decorating the hull as a result.

"Shishishi~," the rubber man chuckled as he observed his handiwork on the previously pursuing marine ship.

Another cannonball soon barrelled through the air but this time, the man casually grabbed his head and stretched his neck so that the ball skimmed the side of his neck while missing his head… and striking the green haired man emerging from the stairs in the face, resulting in him tumbling back inwards and shouting a pained, "Luffy!"

"Eh… what does Zoro want? Did the fighting wake him up?" Luffy thought aloud without one iota of sarcasm as he picked his nose.

The Sunny's own cannons began returning fire, a voice shouting up at the same time, "Oy Luffy, Franky said he'll have the Coup de Burst ready once he's loaded the Cola!"

"Yay, we're going to fly again, shishishi~!" Luffy shouted like the moron his closest friends and family swore him to be. "Hey, Nami, where are we heading again?!"

"We should be going East but there's a weird wind blowing in that direction," Nami answered while pouring over a faded map. "The old man who sold me this said that the area has a lot of storms but is otherwise totally serene. A storm would explain the wind but this doesn't feel like a storm and it's meant to be the dry season anyway. What's happening?"

Zoro's re-emergence from the door saw him more prepared as he easily used one of his three swords to slice approaching cannonballs in two, the metal clunks flying harmlessly off into the distance without ever touching the one-eyed swordsman or his dark green coat.

Save for Usopp operating the cannons, Nami pouring over her navigational equipment and Franky loading barrels of cola to secure their escape, the rest of the crew had joined the fray alongside their Supernova shipmates. Sanji was belting the Marine's cannonballs back with the ease of a trained soccer player, Chopper was using guard point to act as an adorable fuzzy shield, Robin was forming massive interlinking nets of her own hands to gather up piles of the cannonballs before dumping them harmlessly into the water while Brook played a blood-pumping medley to keep the other Straw Hats moving after his attempt to freeze the oncoming projectiles, in his own words, proved as meatless as his skeletal figure ("Yohohoh~ skull joke!").

This chaos served as the perfect background for Luffy to grip the railing of one of the three surrounding ships using his elongated arms and launch himself into the crew's shocked midst.

Clearly unprepared for the sudden action, those gathered on the deck were all swept into the ocean with one swing of his long arm. The resounding splashes only deepened his grin as he skilfully dodged the marines pouring out of the other areas of the ship to compensate for their lost comrades.

In a show of unity that would touch the heart of onlookers, each gave a fitting tribute to their lost allies… by going down in one hit as Luffy threw himself throughout the ship in an unstoppable frenzy, giggling all the while.

Meanwhile, on his own ship, Franky watched the last portions of fizzy fuel lowered into the engine with a manic grin. His green hair kept flat save for two long tendrils that drifted down towards his eyes, curling up underneath them like ant legs, a feature often missed by those first observing the colossal, partially metallic behemoth of a man. Also he was only wearing a black speedo on his lower body, so hair was pretty low down on everyone's priority list the first time they spotted him.

"It's reeeeaddddyyy!" he cried up boisterously before bringing his hands over his head and stretching them out to the side with a punctuating "OW!"

"Alright, everyone set?!" Usopp called up, only to groan when Robin's voice calmly spoke through a mouth that had appeared on the Coup de Burst's lever, "No, the Captain is currently on one of the other ships."

"Then get him back here!" Usopp cried frantically into the speaker. "I don't want to be surrounded anymore," he muttered pathetically as his knees knocked together, his pride only saved by the fact that none of his other crewmates could hear him.

"You'll be fine, Long Nose," Robin assured gently, making Usopp jump in surprise. The archaeologist continued in the same comforting tone, "The worst thing that could happen is you'd be captured and condemned to a life of tortures unimaginable to the normal man. So relax."

"Tortures…" Usopp mumbled, biting his nails as he rocked back and forth on his heels slightly, desperate to run away.

Nami, meanwhile, was far more in control of the situation as she leaned over the railing of the ship and shrilly screamed, "Luffy, get your butt back over here before I come over there to kick it!"

Hearing his navigator's threat, Luffy gulped as his arms stretched to grab the Sunny's mast like his life depended on it (if Nami had her way, Luffy wasn't too sure it didn't). Just as he jumped, one of the marines, craftier than his fellows, sprung forward and slapped what appeared to be a shackle on the thinnest part of Luffy's ankle.

"I did it!" he cried triumphantly as his face slid down the wooden bar at the front of the ship, his smashed nose making his words sound closer to, "Wi wit ij." (far quieter than he intended), as was the natural result of holding onto a high speed object that he had no chance of stopping.

Unfortunately for Luffy, the shackle appeared to be made of Kairoseki, a wondrous material that warded off Sea Kings and left Devil Fruit users powerless and bereft of energy. Thus, Luffy had neither control of his trajectory nor any ability to land softly, causing him to crash clean through the hull of the Thousand Sunny and into one of the lower decks.

The resulting noise and debris tipped the already jumpy Usopp's nerves over the edge and as soon as he saw Luffy (smashing through the wall beside him and ending up two rooms over) was back aboard the Straw Hat's flagship, he pulled the lever causing the modified vent at the back of the ship to roar to life as it released a freakish "Burst" worthy of its name.

Having been knocked slightly sideways by its commanding officer, the ship's flight through the air, instead of sending them towards clear, calm seas (by New World standards), had them aimed directly at a cliff face.

Several of the Straw Hats screamed at their oncoming fate and others swore while most plotted under their breath to murder their Captain if they survived.

Nami was literally counting off the distance in her head, resigned as she was to her fate.

"_Seven seconds… five seconds… three seconds… two seconds… four seconds… wait," _"What?"

The ship had miraculously been caught by the odd gale that the redheaded Cat Burglar had been thinking off earlier and was sent twirling towards the sand at a still pretty intense pace.

Luffy was at this point still lying upside-down in a pile of chairs with the same dopey expression he wore whenever exposed to Kairoseki on his face. His eyes lazily soaked in the horizon until a weird, flying shadow in the corner of his vision grabbed his attention, he tried to raise himself up to get a better look but the ship was already tumbling by that point. Once it had completed a 360 degree arc, the shadow had completely vanished.

"That looked like… a guy," Luffy wondered dumbly, his expression casual and his smallest finger once again probing his nose.

It remained like that right up until there was a loud crash as the hull of the Thousand Sunny struck sand on the miles of beach, dragging through it for a moment before coming to a gradual halt.

Luffy was sent tumbling out of the ship in that instant (through the hole that he'd made) and left face down in the sand. He pushed himself up to see a few nervous looking people gathered atop the cliff that ran along the beach's edge almost as far as the eye could see.

**Author's Note: There's the first chapter. How was it? Attention grabbing enough? Humorous enough? Would you read more? Should I scrap it? All comments and criticisms are welcome, even in guest review format if you feel uncomfortable signing your name to what you're saying.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Here's chapter two, where we meet some of our supporting cast, important really only in how they relate to the Straw Hats if anyone is worried about that.**

Nami had had the common sense to grab the ship's railing once their course had diverted from the cliff face and was thus left hanging from it when the ship teetered on its side.

Grunting with annoyance, the young navigator managed to pull herself up so that she was lying on the inside of the tilted ship and could see out onto the beach. After just a moment's rest, she caught sight of Luffy lying bonelessly in the sand.

She'd glared down at the useless figure for the first few moments, mumbling curses under her breath at his nearly getting them killed (the usual ones she uttered in these common circumstances), before realising that he wasn't moving. It was then that she noticed the small crowd of spectators gathering on the cliff top to view her seemingly helpless captain.

Panic overtook her at the possibility of them calling the local marines to claim the bounty or doing something else harmful to their captain. Unlikely, she admitted, but so was the idea that Luffy would sit still for any length of time on a brand new island.

Rolling off the edge of the Sunny, Nami pulled out her Perfect Clima-Tact, or more accurately one of the blue cylinders that normally constituted a piece of her Clima-Tact, and pointed it towards the ground. Waiting a moment for her velocity to increase, Nami released a bubble from the hole in her weapon's top.

The bubble burst into a mighty gust of air, scattering the sand below in a miniature sandstorm (in a circle that Nami would land in the calm centre of) and slowing the navigator's decent to land safely on her feet from the high drop with a reduced risk of injury.

"_Luffy's lucky he's made of rubber or he'd have cracked that thick skull of his years ago," _Nami mentally noted with a smirk as she sprinted to her captain's side, finally spotting the shackle still connected to Luffy's ankle. _"Kairoseki… it must be. That explains why he hasn't run off to explore yet. Guess it wasn't entirely his fault this time."_

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a hairclip and began to work on the lock, causing Luffy to twitch in a slothenly manner.

"Knock it off…" Luffy moaned. "I'll kick your ass if you don't…"

"Shut up," Nami ordered quietly as she finished undoing the lock.

"Nami?" Luffy questioned as the chains fell away, Nami gripping them out from underneath him and flinging them down the beach. The action caused a sudden surge of energy in Luffy who jumped back to his feet with a "Shishishi~ thanks Nami!" and a wide toothy grin.

His face became serious as he suddenly crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side.

"But why did you have the key? Are you a spy?" he asked with all sincerity.

"Idiot, I didn't have the key. I picked the lock," Nami explained with an unamused expression.

"That's just what a spy would say!" Luffy accused dramatically, pointing a finger at Nami and causing the vein in her forehead to throb violently.

She rapped his forehead hard with her knuckles, drawing a pathetic whine from the rubber man, as she glared harder. Luffy rubbed his notable red lump, childishly pouting at Nami.

"Why did you hit me?!" "Because you're being a moron!"

Pulling back her fist again, Luffy sunk away, raising his hands defensively, "Okay, okay, I believe you… you're not a spy. But it's just that I've never seen you pick a lock before."

"Yes, you have," Nami tried to explain calmly but upon seeing the blank expression on Luffy's face, she let her own face fall into her hand. "Never mind."

"Well, whatever. We're on a new island now, so let's explore!" Luffy turned to begin his march but paused when he saw the crowd his ship's fall had amassed, turning back to Nami, "When did they get there?"

"About when you landed," Nami answered with a sigh, aware that anything more complicated would just give Luffy a headache. Which would lead to him giving Nami a (worse) headache… and that was bad. "The weird wind that brought us here probably drags things onto the beach all the time. Maybe watching for stuff that washes up is like a local custom."

"That sounds boring," Luffy announced loudly.

Nami would have replied sarcastically had someone not spoken up before her.

"Pirates!" someone in the startled crowd screamed, the scene quickly devolving into chaos as they scattered away from the crash site.

The two Straw Hats were left staring at blank space, uncertain what to do following the delayed reaction.

"How rude, fufufu," came a joking voice from behind them.

"Robin!" Nami shouted in surprise, clutching her heart tightly. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry, Miss Navigator." Robin offered her usual, slightly-unsettling smile, doing little to ease Nami's nerves.

"Robin-Chwan! Nami-Swan!" Sanji shouted as he rushed around the edge of the ship. "Thank God, you're alright! When the ship went overboard I thought… I thought… oh it pains me to think it!" Sanji shouted while wiping the joyous tears from his eyes.

"Hey, Sanji!" Luffy shouted in greeting.

"Luffy," Sanji responded calmly, smartly adjusting his tie with all signs of his previous outburst having disappeared. "So, where are we anyway?"

"Uro, it's a small place that's apparently ravaged by storms that make the island completely inaccessible every eleven months out of twelve. Had we arrived a few weeks later, Luffy's knocking the ship off course would have probably killed us." Nami recited the information she'd gotten from the irritatingly chatty man she'd bought her map from, his lecherous old face making it clear that he was just looking for any excuse to keep her in sight for as long as possible.

"I've heard stories of an island like this one but they were all about the storm," Robin interjected thoughtfully. "Perhaps that means the island has little else of interest to offer, although I would like to investigate myself if we have time."

"Of course, we do, OW!" shouted the cyborg coming up behind them, flexing as he came to a halt amongst the group. "The Thousand Sunny's not fit to sail right now, that crash did some minor damage to the engines. Nothing I can't fix with the SUPAH stuff I already got on-board but it will take a while."

Slowly the other crew members emerged, Chopper having been stuck under a piece of falling debris that had given him a nasty gash in his right side, Usopp having trouble finding a safe way down and Brook was found with his long legs kicking out of the white sand, his entire upper body buried in the grainy substance.

"The true fate of all bones on the beach, I fear. Yohohoho~ skull joke!"

The only one unaccounted for was Zoro, which meant that they were in for a long search because there was no way he would find them by himself.

"We may as well go look," Nami said resignedly as she started walking towards a path that lay further up the cliff face.

"Alright, take care when finding him. I'll get to work on the ship," Franky announced as he began scaling up the ship's side and disappeared within.

The others had only begun their journey when two figures emerged to block their way… both wearing white uniforms with the word "MARINE" emblazoned on their caps.

The first was a short man with spiky blond hair (on the sides that were visible anyway) on his head, a rifle on his back and a pistol in his hand. He had a piercing stare that seemed to be sizing up the Straw Hats with an odd fervour. His partner, meanwhile, was…

"A dog!" Luffy shouted, pointing at the other man in amazement.

His crewmates may have wanted to scold him but they were stunned into silence by the amazing spectacle before them. Luffy was right, the man appeared to be a bipedal dog of some sort.

He had a bulky upper body (large enough to store a regular dog's body within), dirty brown fur and a dopey expression. His hands were abnormally large and were adorned with simple black gloves.

"Yes, he's quite the spectacle but let's not drag this out, I have things to do," the human Marine noted with disdain dripping from every word. "My name is Onji, Lord Onji to you, and I represent the local Marine branch and the local government. I'm not here to arrest you, although I am aware of your reputations. My boss thought it prudent to meet with you but I sincerely doubt there it is for anything more than to share drinks given his idiocy."

The crew seemed surprised by the reveal and after a moment of silence, it fell to Sanji to ask the obvious question.

"And why aren't you trying to arrest us?"

"Because I'm one of only two officers on the island and I don't work Mondays through Sundays, if you follow me," he answered with a sneer, his arrogance breath-taking given how little control he obviously had of the situation.

Despite not being obviously overweight or thin, Sanji was hardly intimidated by his size or presence.

Luffy meanwhile was distracted by petting the dog, whose long face lit up slightly as he licked Luffy's cheek appreciatively.

"Shishishi~ I like you, why don't you join my crew?"

The animal barked, which Luffy understood meant neither yes nor no but rather "Pet me more."

Luffy was happy to comply but the animal's attention was drawn by something behind the Straw Hat captain. Something that made his tongue roll out of his mouth and drool pour onto the ground.

Without a hint of warning, the dog lunged forward and began chasing after Soul King Brook aka the biggest collection of bones a certain dog had ever seen in his life. And these ones even ran away like you were playing fetch, it was heaven!

"No, I don't want to be buried again!" Brook yelped as his legs moved at such dizzying speeds that the naked eye had trouble separating the two limbs.

The dog was undeterred by this and managed to keep pace.

"Damn, and I just finished calming him down after his walk. He might be hyper for hours now," Onji's words had an edge to them as if he personally blamed the Straw Hats for the unusual incident. "I hope you're happy with yourselves."

"We don't even know what's going on!" Sanji protested loudly, advancing on the rapidly grating on the nerves Onji.

"Let's just go," Nami said calmly, putting a hand up to block Sanji. "Luffy, grab the dog when he runs by. Brook over here!"

And that was how the seven Straw Hats present began heading to meet Uro's leader with a squirming dog in a laughing Luffy's arms ("Come on, answer me! Are you gonna join my crew or not?!").

Little did they know that about a mile inland, a one-eyed man armed with three swords was wandering through a town and grumbling audibly.

"How did those idiots get lost in a ship crash? I just can't understand how someone's sense of direction could be that bad."

He would have continued ranting but his breath caught as he froze in place, a sudden presence overwhelming him. The cause was not hard to spot, Zoro quickly regaining his composure as he stared at its source.

A giant of a man, well over three hundred centimetres tall, stood in the fields, an oversized axe with a blade larger than the man's upper body leaning on his shoulder while being gripped by his right hand. His entire form was coated in black armour, right up to his helmet which was additionally adorned with a red faceguard that masked his mouth.

Very slowly and deliberately, the figure held out his weapon, apparently as intrigued by Zoro's appearance as the swordsman was by his.

Zoro drew just one of his own blades, holding it front of him in acceptance of his challenge. The two stared one another down as a cloud moved lazily over the sun. When it passed the two charged forward at the exact same moment as if by some unspoken agreement.

The first clash of metal could be heard for miles…

**Author's Note: Does the island seem plausible by One Piece standards? I think it's alright but I'm not entirely certain.**

**Also I feel this dragged in places, so feel free to tell me if it did. Constructive criticism always welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: I think I've settled on a schedule on this fic. Hopefully, I'll be releasing two or three chapters a week and will have it done by early July. May seem ambitious but June is my down time and I have stuff to do next month so I have to get cracking on my hobby goals.**

Robin paused in her steps through the town, her ears picking up a distant clang amongst the limited hubbub of the rural island.

"Something wrong Robin?" Usopp asked, apparently the first to notice the distinguished woman stop.

Robin simply smiled and shook her head. "No Long Nose, it's nothing important."

Used to her odd tendencies- or too frightened to get a deeper answer- Usopp simply nodded and fell back into step with the others.

Despite the lack of urgency, Robin's curiosity was peaked and she moved through her allies to catch up to Onji, who insisted on walking in front of the others to maintain some semblance of marine authority.

"What do you want?" Onji questioned impatiently, his mouth forming a hard line as he addressed the Straw Hat archaeologist.

Robin's expression didn't shift as she smoothly responded, "Who said I wanted something?"

"That curious glint in your eyes gave you away," Onji remarked with a proud smirk. "I can read any man and spot a liar from a mile off."

To accentuate his boast, the young man turned his head… to look Usopp directly in the eye.

"Huh, do you want something?" came the question of the confused sniper as Onji turned away from him.

"That's very impressive, fufufu," Robin giggled knowingly. "I was just wondering if the blacksmith is near here."

"Other side of town, you couldn't hear it from here if you're wondering about that sound just now," Onji explained, frowning slightly when he realised Robin's expression hadn't altered in awe at his reveal. "You shouldn't worry about, some of our workers sometimes get out of hand and it comes to sword blows." Onji then muttered under his breath, "Or axe blows."

If Robin noticed his mumblings, she made no obvious signs of it.

Privately she noted, _"Mr. Swordsman is going to love it here from the sounds of it. Knowing his luck, that's probably him. He wouldn't have just been dragged out to sea and eaten by the local marine life, fufufu."_

The rest of the crew were more preoccupied by the reactions of the people around them. Mothers quickly rushed their children indoors, people working outside froze in their movements with audible gulps and nervous faces peered out windows at the new arrivals.

"Hey, why does everyone look so frightened?" Chopper asked innocently, biting his lip uncomfortably at the terrified eyes of the natives.

"We're pirates, it's to be expected. But you're right, it's a little more extreme than usual," Nami said in an effort to push away Chopper's worries. _"Usually Luffy gets to do something before someone runs us off. Maybe Zoro got a head start."_

Nami shrugged her own musings off and returned Chopper's innocent smile while subtly glancing uncomfortably at the white bandages stained with the red marks on Chopper's side. _"Hopefully he won't have to strain himself anytime soon for these morons."_

Luffy, having grown tired of walking through such a boring place, whined, "Hey, are we almost there yet?"

Onji bristled, tightening up his form and pulling his shoulders up in a defensive square.

"Just look ahead, you moron," Onji kept his voice level but a current of irritation ran noticeably underneath it.

Looking up, the Straw Hats glanced about the plain area. The local buildings were all minimalist, the odd sign to mark the tavern or likewise buildings standing as the highpoint of decoration. The largest building was the obvious clue but when Luffy's expression lit up and he prepared to run (the weird dog-officer still pinned in his arms), Onji interrupted him.

"It's hollow; there was an accident and part of the building collapsed through. That place is abandoned."

Growing irritated at Onji's crypticness, Luffy was ready to complain again when the blonde pointed to a building at the end of the town square that seemed no different to its neighbours… save for a flag marked with the skull-and-crossbones (with what appeared to be wind circling the bones) which was flying from its chimney.

"There are other pirates here already?" Sanji said questioningly, lighting up a new cigarette and releasing a smoky puff into the air. "Anyone else think that's a little suspicious?"

"No more so than our new friend pretending to be a marine," Robin interjected cheerfully, well with as much cheer as she usually showed when she knew she was in control of the situation.

The rest of the crew seemed shocked at the revelation but Onji simply smirked at the proud woman.

"I was about to reveal myself anyway," he turned his nose up snobbishly as he added, "but I'd have done it with some flair."

Robin chuckled lowly and Onji's expression darkened for a fraction of a second. Shaking off his annoyance, Onji pushed the front door open to step into a partially destroyed hallway, the drawers against the wall now little more than large woodchips and the wall itself was covered in holes of varying sizes.

"Don't mind the mess, the captain likes to roughhouse," Onji explained, discarding any attempt to separate himself from the pirate crew within.

Luffy laughed excitedly at the sight of the place, dropping the dog as he ran ahead of the group and into a smallish kitchen.

Sitting at the table and attempting to fit an oversized bird's entire leg (it was cooked, at least) into his mouth in one go. His eyes shifted to Luffy and he let out a confused hum before finally managing to stuff the poultry about halfway in.

He had fluffy back hair and a misshapen nose, the bend looking suspiciously like someone's knuckle. His attire consisted of baggy white balloon pants and nothing else, not even footwear. Perhaps his most interesting feature was a circular hole towards the front of his hair that had cut away the black follicles and left a tiny spot of flesh visible.

Biting down hard, the man managed to separate a large portion of meat from bone and his meal escaped his mouth with an audible pop.

Luffy and he both grinned moronically after that.

"Ah din't know we'd 'ave guests, kakakaka~." "You're funny, shishishi~."

Luffy reached for a piece of meat on the table when the other man's hand snapped out and caught his wrist, "Ma meat!"

"Gimme!" Luffy responded, stretching out his hand to grab another bit of stray food.

Glaring, the other man twisted and flung Luffy over shoulder, sending him crashing through a wall ("That was just fixed," Onji moaned) and, much more importantly, causing him to completely miss the juicy bird's leg, coincidently the last bit of food left.

Smirking proudly, the other captain attempted to return to his meal when an arm stretched through the new hole in the wall, spearheaded by a fist that collided hard with the back of his head and sent him flying into the gathered Straw Hats who pushed themselves against the wall to allow the captain to hit into the front door.

Luffy moved in to claim his prize but a voice with a country accent bellowed from the front door, "Kaze Kaze Closed-Eye!"

A very narrow tornado, no thicker than Nami's fingers, pierced the air and struck Luffy in the chest with enough force to send the rubber man sprawling back to the floor.

"_He's a devil fruit user too," _the non-Luffy Straw Hats wondered with varying levels of interest.

The opposing captain, his finger and thumb outstretched in the shape of a gun, quickly scrambled for the table again but Luffy's rapid recovery allowed him to leap at about the same timed (aided by being closer to the table).

The two collided in the air and landed on the table's edge in a flurry of limbs and screeches.

"Come on, share some of the meat!" "Do ah look like a 'ero to you, now git! Iz my meat!"

Seeing their meal fly into the air after the table collapsed, both jumped out of their pile and latched onto it with their teeth.

Like a pair of snarling dogs, the two pulled their heads away from one another until an almighty rip moved through the air and the two ended up lying on their backs a few feet from one another, the now naked bone bouncing uselessly in the middle of the two. The poor thing had never stood a chance.

Both men sat up at the same time to a horrible realisation… the meat was gone.

"But ahm still hungry," the other captain mumbled, Luffy adding a pathetic, "yeah," as the two sagged in harmony.

"Did anyone else see that or am I losing it?" Usopp asked after a beat had passed.

"No, it's like two Luffys," Nami shivered as soon as the words left her mouth.

"What a terrifying thought, fufufu," Robin laughed somewhat ominously at the sight of the two boys acting like small children.

"What's with all the racket?! I'm trying to sleep off a hangover up here!" a shrill female voice shouted from up the hallway's stairs.

Empowered by the possibility of a new female presence, Sanji's neck was the first to crane upwards to catch sight of her… and his eyes quickly morphed into hearts to confirm that it was a woman of at least mild not unattractiveness (Usopp could count on one hand the number of women who didn't produce that result in Sanji the first time they met, if he got onto the second hand by year's end, Franky owed him a hundred Beli).

Frizzled red hair hanging down to her shoulder, one hand rubbing her eyes tiredly while the other tightly clutched a half-empty beer bottle… her pretty features looked somewhat worn but she wasn't bad to look at. That was the rough assessment of Usopp and Brook, Sanji on the other hand…

"Mellorine!" Sanji shouted excitedly, noodle dancing up the stairs to grip her hand and kiss the knuckles softly. "What can I do to make you happy, Mellorine?"

"You'll do stuff for me," the woman asked, smirking when Sanji agreed. "Maybe waking up before noon ain't so bad sometimes."

Walking down the wooden steps with an obvious confidence while Sanji followed behind her like a love-struck puppy, she introduced herself, "Name's Sakera (pronounced: Sa-ker-ah) and the other two are Onji and our esteemed captain, Risho, the wind charmer. You're looking at the Hornless Jinn Pirates."

Taking a long swig of her bottle and wiping the remnants of her lips, she shook the glass container and turned to Sanji, "Go up to my room and get me another, it's third door on the right."

Watching him sprint off, she said "What a good dog he is."

Nami shook her head in humiliation at Sanji's actions, worried how it might reflect on her more so than him.

Noticing the movement, Sakera laughed and approached the younger redhead with a grin.

"Surrounded by morons as well?" she asked, Nami's eyes widened at the implication. "I can spot a kindred spirit a mile off, morons gathering around like moths to a flame. Girls like us need to stick together."

Tears gathering in the edge of her eyes, Nami gripped the older woman and hugged her tightly, "It's been so hard being surrounded by them. Some days I don't know what keeps me sane, waaahhh."

"We're right here, Nami," Usopp pointed out in irritance while being pointedly ignored.

"Hey, I have your… b-b-bot- bot-tle, huh," Sanji had frozen at the sight before him of two beautiful redheads embracing while his elevated position let him see a hint of their touching cleavage.

Sanji was so distracted by his arousal that he didn't notice a familiar building of pressure in his skull until red began pouring intensely from his nose like a miniature geyser. Covering his nostrils as best he could, Sanji tearfully pulled his gaze away from the sight.

Sakera's eyes seemed to shrink at the biology of Sanji's display, her mind refusing to properly comprehend what it had just seen until she completely dismissed it.

By this point, Luffy and Risho were simply sitting next to each other and laughing at Sanji's misfortune like a pair of idiots in stereo.

"Well, well isn't this a drab sight."

The cold source of the words drew the others' attention to a man with long, silky black hair and a face almost feminine in its beauty. His attire was an entirely black suit ensemble save for a white tie hanging from his neck.

Meanwhile, loud footsteps drew their attention towards the front door as the armoured man whom Zoro had encountered approached the front door without so much as a scratch in sight.

**Author's Note: Almost done introducing the other crew? How do they come across?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Chapter four here and I figure I should explain the naming of Kaze Kaze Closed-Eye. It's a pun on Eye of the Hurricane, the safest point in the middle of it. If you close the eye by thinning the tornado, it becomes more a ground zero.**

The giant stood tall against the shadows cast by the sun, eerily blocking out the view of everything behind him. His eyes remained blocked by the darkness under his helmet, making his expression as unreadable as that of the feminine man who was standing in the hole in the wall.

His axe was still leaning atop his shoulder as he had to stoop under the doorframe, although the non-Straw Hats present didn't seem particularly interested in his weapon.

Onji crossed his arms as he leaned back against the kitchen counter, glaring knowingly at the new arrival.

"Kintaro, what was that noise earlier? You didn't destroy any more of our island, I hope."

Kintaro simply turned to the side, allowing a familiar one-eyed swordsman to walk past him.

"Zoro! There you are! Did you get lost again?" Luffy asked with a stupid grin.

Risho turned to Zoro with slight confusion in his eyes but a huge grin that showed he really didn't care to clear it up.

Zoro snorted, "Of course not. I just went for a walk."

"Then what caused that loud noise earlier, Mr. Swordsman?" Robin asked with an unnervingly knowing gaze.

"Hm," Zoro hummed questioningly as he turned his attention to the ship archaeologist.

_The two stared one another down as a cloud moved lazily over the sun. When it passed the two charged forward at the exact same moment as if by some unspoken agreement._

_The first clash of metal could be heard for miles…_

_Zoro had covered a greater distance and his sword had managed to complete his swing while Kintaro, slowed by the weight of his protective garb, had only begun bringing his axe down when the two had collided._

_Zoro's muscles tensed, his one visible eye narrowing intently as he gave all of his strength to the effort._

_Kintaro seemed unshaken by the collision but his single-minded pushing downwards didn't seem to be that of a lazy man, indicating that he was giving as his much to his attack as his green haired opponent._

_What at first appeared to be a stalemate quickly proved to be otherwise as Zoro's foot began being pushed against the ground harder, the grass being flattened beneath his boots in a worryingly straight line as he slid backwards._

_Realising the battle was not going his way, Zoro had just one thought._

"I can only win in a sudden burst; I have to knock him off his feet now!"

_In accordance with this strategy, Zoro's biceps bulged to a greater side, the image of a spectral green ape seeming to briefly pass behind him in support as Zoro gave a determined scream and shoved as hard as he could._

_Kintaro took the entirety of the force… and stepped forward hard._

_Zoro was sent skidding backwards and ended up landing a few feet away._

_Zoro may have maintained his footing but Kintaro now stood where he had moments earlier and his loss was clear._

_Breathing out, Zoro sheathed the black sword as Kintaro moved his axe's wooden part back atop his shoulder to ease the burden of carrying it._

_Sensing no hostility, Zoro was not hesitant in following Kintaro when he gestured into the distance with his neck (_"Where else am I supposed to go?"_)._

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Robin," Zoro answered simply, only giving the slightest flinch when Robin's classy laugh filled the air following his denial.

"Well, that accounts for most of you, at least," Onji said with a sigh, clearly growing disinterested in the conversation. "I think you're meant to have someone else in your crew, though. Fred, Brach, Frink or something like that."

"How would you know that?" Nami's thin eyebrow rose inquisitively while Onji dismissed the query easily.

"In order to maintain our lifestyle, I've been forced to play the part of the local marine leader. I've also had to control the communication lines coming to and from the island. Your crew stands out. Now, if we're done playing twenty questions, I think I'm going to go check your ship."

"Why?!" Ussop stood in front of him so that they were almost nose-to-nose when he spoke, his protectiveness of the Merry having transferred somewhat to the Sunny.

"It's a small, isolated island and I enjoy new technologies. Perhaps it will help pass the time, is that a crime?" Onji challenged, smirking all the while.

Ussop crossed his arms and raised his chin defiantly. "No but I'm not letting you wander in alone. I'll be going with you!"

"Whatever," Onji said as he left the house, Ussop tailing closely behind the arrogant marine.

The dog in the marine outfit barked as they left and grabbed Brook's arm in his mouth as he moved to chase after them. Fearing losing the limb, Brook was forced to run alongside the dog even as he screamed in protest and spouted a terrible pun about being a skeleton that no one found particularly interesting.

"How I despise that man," the one member of Risho's crew yet to introduce himself mumbled before turning his attention back to the remaining Straw Hats, his eyes lazily passing over them until they lit up at the sight of Robin. "Well, that's a pleasant surprise."

Approaching the archaeologist, he kept his hands in his pockets and spoke in level tones, "My name is Bui and you are the only person in the room to interest me, Miss…"

"Nico Robin," the dark woman responded, her usual guarded smile in place.

"Miss Nico, I find youth insufferable and old age unbearable. As someone who is currently in between those extremes, perhaps you would like to accompany me for a… walk?"

A dark light seemed to appear in his eyes at the offer, something that put Robin oddly on edge.

"My, what a rude boy, you are," Robin answered, her arms subtly coming closer to her usual pose for manipulating her abilities.

"That may be so but it does not change the fact that the other women present are a brat and a hag, respectively," Bui said without a hint of emotion or hesitance.

"Screw you!" both Sakera and Nami shouted together, moving to hit him but being beaten to the punch by a certain woman-loving chef grabbing Bui's collar.

"How dare you insult Nami-Swan and Sakera-Chwan! I'll kick your ass if you say something like that again!" Sanji shouted passionately, something that was met with a scoff.

Bui's hands gripped Sanji's arms and easily pulled them away from his body, the older man giving Sanji little more than a bored stare.

"I assure you that any attempt to do such would only result in pain for you. I am confident enough in my abilities that arrogant brats like you no longer faze me," Bui said with a level, threatening tone, his confidence blatant to all who heard him speak.

"Shitty-Bastard!" Sanji all but roared as he threw his leg up in a quick kick.

Bui gracefully ducked the kick and moved backwards, moving as lightly as a sheet through air as Sanji's black shoe collided with the wall to create a large crater.

"Hey, watch the house!" Sakera shouted, motioning for the door. "Kick his ass outside so you don't mess up the place, Suit Guy."

"Of course, Sakera-Chwan!" Sanji said with as he waved his arms through the air in joy.

He turned his attention back to Bui but found nothing.

"Where did he…"

"You will regret this," Bui said calmly, appearing back-to-back with Sanji without making a single sound. "My speed is the least of your worries if you truly plan to face me."

"You…!" Sanji didn't get a chance to say anything else as Bui took off running.

Wasting no time and lost to his passions, the fiery chef chased after him. Much more surprisingly, Robin sprinted off as well.

"Where are you… she's gone," Nami said while blinking in confusion. "Wonder what's got her so excited. Oh well, say is there anything to do on this island."

"Care to go shopping?" Sakera ventured. "Allies of the captain get a 100% discount," she offered in a sing-song voice.

"100%... discount…" Nami was practically salivating at the thought, the Beli symbols where her eyes should have been even seemed to be made of gold instead of their usual black shade. "Chopper, you have to come too!"

"What, why?!" the little reindeer asked, having all but been forgotten in the previous conversation.

"Because Sanji's gone and someone has to help me carry my stuff," Nami explained simply.

"But I don't wanna!" Chopper protested. "I want to see some of the other animals on the island!"

"Please, I'm begging you!" Nami pleaded with tears in her eyes.

The little reindeer's resolve faltered at that sight. "Okay, you win…" Chopper said guiltily.

"I knew I could count on you," Nami said exuberantly, her tears having vanished into the ether ("You were faking! How cruel can you be?!" Chopper shouted).

Despite his annoyance, Chopper didn't resist when Nami caught his arm and dragged him outside, Sakera following after with a wide smirk.

"At least I get to travel with the ship's cutest guy~"

"Shut up~! You think that makes me happy~! You asshole~, asshole~!" Chopper shouted with very poorly masked joy.

Having been left alone, Zoro looked to the other three men in the room.

"So, is there anything to eat here?"

"Aye know where there's grub!" the Hornless Jinn's captain proclaimed like a small child while all but leaping out the hole in his kitchen's wall.

Luffy excitedly followed after, "Meat! Meat! Meat!"

Zoro felt a strange kinship with the silent Kintaro in that moment as he sighed and followed after the idiot captains.

**Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to update. I had another project I wanted to try.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Time for the first full fight scene, I hope it hasn't taken too long to get to one.**

The town's buildings passed by Sanji in a blur as he chased Bui through the streets, the area's emptiness just allowing him to run quicker without fear of hitting something. The long black hair of his target flowed gracefully behind him, seemingly taunting Sanji as a fluttering cape would a charging bull.

Bui gave him one stray glance but no emotion had crossed the older man's face as their eyes met. That only served to infuriate Sanji further, especially when he was forced to chase a leaping Bui onto the area's rooftops.

His Skywalk had brought him to those heights just as Bui leapt off the buildings and darted into a long field of green. Sanji's feet deftly kicked the air and pushed him to land on the soft grass below without breaking his pace.

They weren't far from the uninteresting township when Bui had skid to a stop and turned to face Sanji.

"I should warn you that any attempt to fight me will only invite suffering upon you," Bui said blankly as he spread his arms out to the side, his open palms level with (but pointing perpendicular from) his hips.

"Shitty bastard," Sanji had muttered calmly, his distance from the insulted women having cooled his temper and leaving him ready to punish the man who had besmirched their honour.

Bui sighed but said nothing further as he continued watching the chef with a bored expression upon his face.

"Well, I won't waste any more breath…" Bui said casually before vanishing into thin air quicker than Sanji's eyes could follow.

"Crap!" Sanji shouted, scanning the surroundings just fast enough to see a black-coated leg sailing straight for his nose.

Ducking the attempt, Sanji was forced on the defensive as a flurry of feet, shins and elbows were launched in his direction, the miniscule gaps between each hit leaving little to no room for a counterattack.

Eventually he turned just a fraction of a second too late and a hard elbow grazed Sanji's side, winding him. Sanji stumbled back as Bui came to a halt, his hands resting comfortably in their pockets as Sanji glared at him intently.

Bui flicked his hair from his eyes as a small smirk graced his lips, "I know you can do better but at this rate, I may as well have finished you off in town. It's not like you'd last long enough for the fight to cause any damage."

Sanji remained visibly angry for just a few moments before relaxing with a knowing sigh, a smirk mirroring Bui's appearing on his own face.

"Dumbass."

Sanji's words had barely left his mouth before his leg was swinging for Bui's neck, the distance between the two seemingly closed in an instant.

Just like that, the tables were reversed and Bui was the one unable to find an opening. Bui's leg attempted to rise to meet Sanji's but the blond man's strength proved greater and Bui's kicks were easily deflected.

Sanji spun on his heel and brought his foot up behind him so that his two legs formed an almost straight line as the sole of his shoe was embedded in Bui's gut ("Anti-Manners Course Kick!"). The thinner figure was sent airborne by the strike, clutching at his stomach in pain just as Sanji jumped up beside him and delivered another kick, this one hitting his back to send him hurtling into the ground below.

The resulting crash threw dust and rock chippings into the air as Sanji gracefully landed back on his feet and straightened his tie with one hand.

"Shitty creep makes a shitty fighter, fancy that," Sanji said with a grin as he watched the motionless Bui on the ground.

Slender fingers pushed against the dirt as Bui pushed himself back to his feet, Sanji's grin faltering at the blank expression on Bui's face as he dusted himself off.

"I guess I'll have to take you seriously after all," Bui said while using his thin thumb to brush the line of blood dropping from his mouth off his chin. "Unfortunately, that is something you will soon come to regret."

Sanji scoffed while Bui raised his open palms and took a step forward.

Undeterred, Sanji took the initiative, swinging his feet downwards twice to gather speed before rotating upwards to target Bui's body. The feminine man used his flat palm to block the attack, being pushed along the ground by the force before sending Bui flying to the side.

Sanji's eyes narrowed in pain as his leg dropped to the ground like dead weight in water, hitting the dirt with a loud crack. Sanji's mouth was agape at the sight of darkest black coating his entire leg up to the knee in one uniform colour. The chef tried to lift it but struggled under the attempt as he forced himself to his feet, shaking slightly as he did so.

"What the hell did you do?!" Sanji shouted, falling back to one knee when he tried to take a step forward.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of Bushoshoku Haki?" Bui said in his usual disinterested voice, smirking at the glare Sanji was giving him.

"What that does have to do with anything?!"

"Plenty, it's what's weighing your leg down right now," Bui answered simply, laughing at the shocked look on his opponent's face. "Busoshoku: Koka to be precise."

"But… how?! Luffy can do this as well but it…" Sanji growled when he was interrupted by more bemused chuckling.

"Oh, did I forget to mention my disorder? How silly of me, fufufu," Bui's laughter was accompanied by Bui flicking a strand of his long black hair out of his eyes. "I was born with an unusual disorder that made me incapable of maintaining Busoshoku Haki around my body. It would simply leak off of me like running water."

Bui pointed at Sanji's invalidated leg with a sadistic quirking of the lips, his pupils shrinking in a deranged fashion, "It was while fighting a logia user that I learned what my condition truly allowed me to do. The poor fool was so confident of his victory before I blocked his nose and mouth. It's funny… you're starting to remind me of him."

His sudden flash of emotion died, his normal calm overtaking him as he walked closer to Sanji with his open-palm hand held outwards.

Sanji finally managed to drag himself back to a standing position and jumped away just as Bui's hand passed through the air he'd just occupied. Bui sprinted forward and swiped again, just touching one of Sanji's blond hairs as the other man ducked away.

Any relief that Sanji might have felt was short lived as Bui leapt forward so that he was almost floating level with Sanji's bent backwards body. The thin hand flew forwards and touched Sanji's chest, the heavy Haki overtaking him.

Sanji crashed into the ground, his leg swinging upwards and missing Bui, who rolled to the side. Sanji shifted back and forth, calling on all of his strength, but it all came to naught as he was trapped staring up at the clouds.

The next few moments seemed to be a repeat of the previous ones, Sanji's arms and remaining leg being encased almost as a formality. With those limbs taken care of, Bui slowly stalked the scowling Sanji.

"Stay back, you shitty bastard!" Sanji shouted which drew a bemused smirk from Bui.

"You're in no position to give orders," he pointed out as he reached out for Sanji's face, the only area not coated in weighty armour.

The chef pulled away as best he could but his eyes widened in frustration when Bui's finger trailed his cheek… a thin black streak following closely behind.

"I could so easily suffocate you… but to sully my hands on such unappealingly masculine features. What to do?"

Bui moved to cover Sanji's mouth, the chef's heart catching in his throat at the realisation of how helpless he was.

All hope seemed lost when a familiar arm spurted from Bui's shoulder to grip his wrist and held it firmly in place.

"Such a lovely hand, Miss Nico," Bui said in his usual reserved way.

Robin stood a few feet behind Bui's back, her arms crossed in a familiar position while a narrowed glare crossed her beautiful features.

"Step away from him," Robin said with a controlled tone, although the threat underneath was clear.

Bui smirked and stood back up, reaching across to grip the copied arm which quickly receded before his powers could interact with it.

"Seeing as I'm not quite ready for you yet, how about we strike a deal?" Bui offered, Robin's eyes glinting with a faint hint of interest. "I'll let him live and, in exchange; you'll come meet me tonight at the cave's entrance on the other side of the island."

Their eyes met, neither one portraying the slightest hint of fear or emotion as Bui asked, "Do we have a deal, my lovely?"

"Fine," Robin acquiesced, lowering her arms and approaching Sanji, Bui passing her on the way to fulfil his end of the bargain.

"Just after sunset, that's when we'll meet," Bui said, Robin humming noncommittally in agreement as the again emotionless man left.

She'd waited until he was out of sight to reach down and help Sanji into a sitting position.

"You can't take that deal! I won't let him hurt you!" Sanji argued, briefly forgetting his bonds and turning to face Robin.

The result was him falling back to the ground with a pained gasp as Robin chuckled darkly in her normal manner.

"I appreciate it, Mr. Chef, but you should worry more about your own injuries for now. They could still prove fatal."

The decision was soon made to return Sanji to the ship and see if Chopper could help remove the Haki restarints. Sanji and Robin started walking, Sanji's arms leant over Robin's shoulder and the opposite shoulder of her clone, naturally a position he was slow to object to. Still, he pleaded with her not to accept the other man's offer throughout the entire journey.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes: Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter out. We'll come back to the fight's fallout later, first it's time for Nami and Chopper's adventure. **

Nami had never been easy to fool, her childhood teaching her the value of cynicism and distrust long before Luffy arrived to assure her that some people were just that stupid. No, Nami always gave everything a second glance (unless it related to money, in which case her eyes never moved away from it long enough to qualify for one) and Nami had half-expected Sakera to just steal whatever she wanted.

Given her own experiences with pirates and villages, she would have naturally intervened but that had proven seemingly unnecessary as the shop owners (stall owners, more so) crooned and fawned over Sakera while the two searched for goods. They didn't put up a struggle nor did they even seem disgruntled, smiling all the while.

Chopper, the one carrying many of the bags, was completely taken in by that surface, accepting Sakera's praise with his usual weak denials. Nami, meanwhile, had seen the hints of fear in the shopkeepers' eyes, heard the supressed tremble in their voices. If Chopper hadn't been such an innocent, Nami would have taken action sooner but she decided it was better to wait for Chopper to wander off.

So, she simply let the evidence pile up while subtly returning the more expensive looking goods to their owners. Were it not for childhood traumas, such acts would normally have left her in tears but the navigator had her pride.

As the trio were reaching the end of the shopping area, with a Heavy Point Chopper carrying their new goods, a hysterical woman of a heavier build accidentally bumped into Sakera while charging up the street.

"Watch where you're going!" Sakera yelled as she turned to glare at the offending runner.

The woman turned with an apologetic look mixed into her panic but her skin paled at the sight of who she'd run into.

"Miss… Sakera, oh no. Please, it was an accident! My son is sick and-" the woman began but was swiftly cut off.

Sakera's retort (Nami noticed the subtle movement of her lips) was also cut off by the same yell, Tony Tony Chopper immediately dropping the bags and running up to the woman in his normal form.

"Your son's sick?! What's wrong with him?!"

"He's had a fever for about a week now and he's getting worse. I'm sorry, I need to go get some medicine from Miss Sakera's pirates," the woman explained in a rush as she tried to sprint off once more.

Nami's eye twitched at the phrasing, _"Sakera's pirates… I thought that Risho guy was captain. Maybe it was nothing but…"_

Chopper caught the woman's wrist, her panic proving infectious as he spoke, "I'm a doctor. Have any other doctors looked at him, yet?"

"No…" "Then let me take a look. Which way do you live?"

The two were soon gone Chopper dragging the woman along as he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him while Sakera groaned.

"What good's a man that runs off with any old hag? Am I ri- what's with you?"

Nami had crossed her arms and was glaring at the older woman impatiently, causing a sweatdrop to run down the back of Sakera's neck.

"You need the can or something?" Sakera asked jokingly before Nami replied sharply, "What are you doing on this island?"

Sakera smirked at this while shaking her head, "Fine, I'll tell you what's going on… I wasn't really keeping it a secret anyway."

Sakera led Nami to the edge of town, one look sending the surrounding villagers scurrying to give the two pirates their privacy.

"First off, I wasn't a member of Risho's crew when I got here," Sakera explained. "Risho arrived here about three years ago with just Kintaro, Onji and the dog in the suit; I don't think it has a name."

She tilted her head as she tried to remember the second hand details.

_Apparently they got into a scrap with some big shot pirate crew, which I find extremely easy to believe given Risho's violence, Kintaro's strength obsession and Onji's need to make everyone around him hate how much of an arrogant weasel he is. Only that time, things didn't turn out so good._

_They might have had more crew members, Risho would never say, but all I know is that when they were pushed, Onji used Uro's natural weather phenomena to plot an escape route and avoid capture. They just missed the brunt of the storm starting up, which lost the other guys but trapped them here._

_Risho was so devastated by the loss that he apparently killed all the marines who tried to capture the new pirates on the island, eventually breaking into their base and raining death upon them like an F5 hurricane. Then he stole some goods and got hammered._

_I arrived a year later and, after Kintaro single-handedly obliterated the thirty guys in my crew, we joined Risho and helped him run the island…_

"… he was content to just take some food and beer. Maybe have the occasional feast but the locals didn't mind him too much, he's got a charisma about him as long as the subject doesn't go past his basic needs." Sakera gave a toothy grin and waved her arms around to gesture to the whole of the island, "I changed that. Now we control everything on the island, not just the marine headquarters. Food, machine parts, medicine, if the islanders want it, they got to toe the line with us."

Nami's nails, already digging into her palms at the arrogant speech, actually broke the skin when she tried to supress her rage when Sakera asked, "It's a pretty beautiful system, no?"

"You're scum," Nami said calmly, her temper just waiting for the right moment to boil over.

"Oh you're a pirate, you should aspire to something like this," Sakera retorted like a dismissive teacher, waving her hand at the teenaged girl and unknowingly sending her anger over the edge.

"Who would want to be a two-faced old hag like you?!" Nami shouted, finally causing the other woman's glare to match her own in intensity.

"Who you calling hag?! The only pirate hag I've seen in the last few hours is that creepy woman who came with you, and once Bui gets through with her, well…" Sakera trailed off in a mocking laughter causing Nami to pull out her Clima-Tact parts in one smooth movement while shouting, "Gust sword!"

The blast of wind sent Sakera off her feet, the woman yelping in surprise as her back smashed into a nearby tree. Groggily rising to her feet, Sakera barely had the time to jump to the side as a cloud above her head dispersed a bolt of lightning.

While rolling, she pulled out a silver flask and began downing its contents, bringing a disgusted look to Nami's features.

"Are you drinking in the middle of a fight?" Nami asked in disbelief, gritting her teeth when Sakera indicated for her to wait with her finger. "How much of a revolting drunk can you be?"

Sakera flipped her off while emptying the flask with a satisfied sigh. Nami created another black cloud in an attempt to shock the woman out of her stupor but the drunkard just kind of rolled out of the way with a clumsy gait as the bolt left a black mark where she'd sat just moments earlier.

Nami groaned as she attempted another strike, only to pause when she heard snoring from the downed Sakera. _"Is she making fun of me?! Who does she think she is?!"_

Nami took a step forward but was halted backwards as Sakera seemingly flew back to life and leapt to her feet, taking a wild backhand swing at Nami that sent her sprawling to the floor with an incredible force, little lights dancing in Nami's vision as she pushed herself back to her feet. A bright red flush covered Sakera's face as she hiccupped happily.

"Aish foooolhed 'ou~," she sang in a drunken stupor as her navigator opponent narrowed her eyes in surprise. "Ay'm a Zui Qu (hiccup), a Zu (Hiccup)… (cough), a drunken boxer!"

Nami blinked twice in surprise before smirking, causing Sakera to make a little hmpf of confusion. Nami twirled her Clima-Tact before seeming to vanish into thin air.

Sakera glanced about confusedly and placed a calloused finger to her chin as she appeared deep in thought.

Nami seemed to simply pop out of the air behind her in a single moment, an arc of lightning following the end of the Clima-Tact as she did so, "Thunder Lance Tempo!"

The next moments were perceived in slow motion by Nami as Sakera's body bent out of the arc's path before spinning to one knee and putting all her weight behind a punch directly to Nami's nose. Sakera's slightly bulkier form proved to hold far more power than Nami's as she was thrown into the air by the strike before hitting the dirt hard in a dazed state.

Nami felt a trickle of blood pouring down her nose as Sakera wandered into her view, the navigator blacking out as Sakera smirked.

Sakera took a moment to compose herself, her previous drunkenness fading away somewhat as she walked back into town with a decided stumble in her step.

It was on this path that she bumped into Chopper, the frenzied reindeer running down the road while mumbling to himself about the oddity in the fever. He noticed Sakera's presence and immediately gripped onto her leg, much to the older woman's surprise.

"That boy's symptoms are really weird, I think he had an allergic reaction to one of the plants," Chopper half-yelled as he stared up at her. "I don't know what medicine to use or which plants to look at…"

Sakera blinked before looking upwards to hide her ambitious smirk.

"I know where you can get the right medicine for him…"

**Author's Notes: Two fighting styles covered… three remaining to be revealed. I should point out that Nami was supposed to have been caught offguard and would do better in a rematch… did that come across? As always criticise constructively to your heart's content.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Sorry again for delays in getting this piece up.**

Franky sighed as he pulled his iron face plate off and glared at the collection of crushed barrels lying on the floor of storage. A conspicuous brown liquid had stained into the wood, leaving a mark that Franky knew would be a pain to remove. But it wasn't the hygiene that was bothering the flamboyant cyborg at that particular moment (though it was annoying).

"Our entire Cola stock… squashed. This was the last set of barrels. How is that even possible?!" Franky groaned before running a hand roughly through the flat part of his hair, "This week is starting off really un-SUPAH."

Franky wandered forward and pulled the barrels apart, searching without luck for a barrel that had been merely overturned rather than broken.

"Guess I'll have to go into town after all," Franky though aloud. "Wonder when the others will be back."

His question was seemingly answered by the sounds of someone running down the steps but his eyes caught a glimpse of a white uniform in their corners. Then Usopp's voice could be heard shouting down into the holds, "Oy, stop! You can't go in there!"

Franky pulled himself against a corner; hiding from view until the thin figure came darting past. In a second Franky had swung around the corner and thrown out his arm, the other man crashing into the crook of his elbow. His hat went flying off his head as his blond spikes popped out into the air, in contrast to his body which had smashed into the ground while he stared up at the sky in a daze.

Usopp came following after, slightly out of breath with a red tinge of exhaustion on his cheeks, giving Franky a thumbs up at he stared at the intruder's unconscious form.

"Thanks Franky," Usopp breathed raspily as he stood back up to his full height. "He must have thought the ship had something worth stealing aboard it. Slippery jerk."

"Why would a Marine want to steal from us?" Franky asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's not a Marine," Usopp explained while shaking his head. "His name's Onji, he's one of the Pirates running this island."

"Then maybe we should put him somewhere where he can't tell his friends that I just clocked him," Franky said with a conspiratorial glance.

Usopp returned the look, a single sparkle seemingly emanating from their eyes at the same time as they reached down and grabbed the fake Marine by his arms.

Onji later awoke to find his arms chained to a support pillar somewhere deep in the ship, two men with crossed arms standing over him intimidatingly. His head rotated between the two while maintaining a perfect poker face before sitting straight up and maintaining as much pride in his captive posture as he could.

"So, how do you want to do this?" he asked casually, his arms twitching subtly behind his back as he tested the chains digging into his wrists.

"Why did you try to break into our ship?" Usopp questioned in a business-like manner, careful to maintain eye-contact.

With a smirk that Usopp could only interpret as a challenge, Onji responded, "I just really wanted to get aboard."

"No, seriously," Usopp said, his unimpressed frown deepening when Onji chuckled snidely.

"That's my honest answer, the only one you'll be able to get."

"Oy, ignore that," Franky interjected. "Where can I get Cola on this island?"

Onji blinked blankly, hmming to himself in confusion at the seemingly random question.

Shrugging his shoulders, he (eventually) replied, "I suppose you'd have to visit the lock-up. It's where we keep limited goods. You could ask Sakera, she's the one in charge of storage." He bared his teeth in a slightly feral grin before adding, "But, to be honest, that woman is almost impossible to deal with. The worst kind of alcoholic, egotistical hag on all the seas."

"Where's the lock-up?" Franky asked, one hand resting on his chin.

"West of the island's only town, dug into a bunker. You'll find it easy enough. The steel door out front's pretty resistant to damage if you were thinking of charging it," Onji's tone remained politely neutral, something that grated immensely on Usopp's nerves in the circumstances.

"Hey Usopp," Franky said while gesturing with his head, Usopp getting his hint and both men heading up onto the deck.

Unbeknownst to them, Onji smirked widely in the dim of the hulls.

Franky adjusted his sunglasses with his oversized hands, taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

"_I burned a lot of energy getting this ship back onto its bottom, there's no major structural damage but without more Cola… the Sunny and me are next to useless."_

"Do you think there's any chance they'll just give us the Cola we need to leave?" Franky reached down to adjust his speedo before staring up at the cliff that blocked his view of the rest of the island.

"Luffy and Zoro have been running around for a while, so there's always a chance they won't," Usopp said with an oddly serious expression. "We could always wait for the others, Nami said we had a few weeks to get off the island and the log pose needs time to set."

"Sitting around doesn't seem to achieve much though." Franky's eyes suddenly lit up as he struck his trademark pose, "Maybe I should do some SUPAH reconnaissance, OW!"

Usopp shrugged at the suggestion, "I'll guard the ship then. Something about this whole island seems off to me. The people are terrified of pirates and yet they're ruled by one."

"You think he's the problem?" Franky guessed only to have Usopp confirm it.

"When we visited Nami's village two years ago, a fishman named Arlong had control of it. There was a tension in the air that was similar to what I felt when I was following Onji back to the ship. But it's all just nervous stares and avoidance… not much to really go on."

"I'll keep that in mind," Franky said as he climbed the rope ladder he'd set up down to the sandy beach. "I'll try to be quick."

"As quick as you can," Usopp said with a very slight crack in his tone. "The more I think about it, the less I like this place."

"Got it, so relax," Franky assured dismissively.

It hadn't taken long to find the dip in the land that Onji had talked about, the bunker's location being fairly apparent even at a distance. Franky decided to wander along the side of the path, just inside the trees to make himself less obvious to the one guard standing at the door's side with a rifle.

This was just as ridiculous in practice as it would have sounded to anyone the gigantic cyborg had voiced the thought to. Three voices whispering in the bushes seemed to agree with that as they stared at the obnoxiously obvious attempt at stealth.

"Is he trying to hide?" "Couldn't be, no one could screw it up that badly." "What is he anyway?" "He looks kind of like a robot… how awesome would it be if he was one!" "Yeah!" "Shut up, we need to stay quiet or we'll be spotted."

"What are you doing?" Franky's voice drifted down to the three, his eyebrows quirked at the badly coloured and overly round 'bush' the three were sitting inside.

"Ah, we've been spotted!" one of the voices screeched. "Go to Plan B!"

The bush was thrown into the air to reveal the three boys hiding underneath, not one of them looking a day over ten. The trio immediately pounced forward with their weapons of choice swinging for Franky (a hammer, a frying pan and bit of broken branch to be precise).

The three objects harmlessly bounced off Franky's bullet-proof body, causing the three boys to land side-by-side, screaming as their eyes popped out of their head in a display of sheer terror.

"Ay, put those eyeballs back in your heads! What were you attacking me for, that's completely un-SUPAH?!"

"We won't back down from pirates!" one of the boys shouted defiantly while the other two began desperately pleading for him to stay quiet. "The Uro Defence Force is going to take back our home!"

"Ah, don't tell him that!" "Yeah, he might kill us, Ida!"

"Come on, be men! We can't keep living like cowards!" Ida shouted before freezing when he noticed Franky's sunglasses-hidden eyes staring down at him emotionlessly. "What are you looking at?!"

"Why are you living like cowards?" Franky asked with an unusual calm.

"You're not one of Sakera's men?" Ida asked nervously, looking down when Franky nodded in confirmation.

Ida bit his lip before agreeing to explain his side of the story.

"The Hornless Jinn Pirates came when I was seven. My dad was one of the Marines that were slaughtered by their captain," Ida revealed, his fists clenched aggressively at his side.

("I lost my dad as well," "I lost my mom," his two friends interjected with expressions more tailored to misery than rage.)

"That's why we became the Uro Liberation Force, to free our island!" Ida claimed passionately while his hands moved about with an angry energy to them.

Franky stood stock still for a moment before sniffling loudly and covering his face with his arm to partially mask the streams of tears that dropped to the ground.

"That's so touching," he wailed while the three boys looked between themselves, Ida's two accomplices looking like they thought Franky was a dangerous lunatic rather than the relatively harmless (to them) lunatic that he was. "Please listen to this song I've written about the touching story I just heard!"

Freaked out by the guitar Franky had seemed to summon from the ether, all three boys took a cautious step backwards as Franky started his tune.

"Look we really need to get back to figuring out a way inside the storage. They have a weapon's supply in there that we could spread to-" Ida was cut off by a loud slap on Franky's chest with his giant robot palm.

"Then let's go!" Franky shouted as he charged forward, the three kids jumping on him in a vain effort to hold him down.

"Franky Radical Beam!" Franky shouted as he brought his hands together in a circular shape while aiming it directly at the door.

"Beam?!" the three boys shouted excitedly with a bright yellow shine in their eyes as they froze in their ministrations to halt Franky's progress.

A few moments of silence passed before Franky stared at his hands blankly, "Am I that low on power?"

"Hey, freakshow, beat it!" the guard shouted, slightly humiliated that he'd flinched when he first heard Franky shouting (then developed the same sparkle in his eyes that the boys had).

"Run!" Franky shouted comically as he gripped the entirety of the Uro Liberation Force by their scruffs and bolted from the angered (and slightly disappointed) guard as quickly as possible while the kids squealed in protest at their undignified position and Franky's idiocy.

**Author's Notes: This chapter could also be titled "Franky Gets a Subplot".**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes: I was abroad for two weeks (probably the last time I'll be able to do that for a few years) and as a result couldn't update. My apologies and I realise that the fact that I tried to set a schedule probably pissed off quite a few people after how badly I failed at it. Again, my bad.**

Luffy swung his arms about cheerfully as he walked while Risho's hands rested behind his head, his legs crossed as he floated through the air on what appeared to be a current of air. Both were shadowed by their apparent right hands, Zoro and Kintaro respectively, walking a few paces behind in contented, respectful silence.

The town/ village's banality did little to shake the strange camaraderie formed between the 'intellectually-disinterested' captains. Both of them were laughing as they shared stories ("Ya flew clean ovah their 'eads in a pool o' watah… kakakaka! That's priceless!") and ideas ("Then you could have all the meat you wanted! Awesome!").

When they reached the top of a hill leading out of the village, Risho came to a sudden stop and his lips curled upwards even further as he pointed out a few cows grazing in the distance.

"Ay reckon that there's enough cows to afford partin' with one, if ya get me," Risho's laughter lined up with Luffy as they both readied themselves to sprint (Risho still floating in mid-air).

The two moved like possessed beasts, their teeth on full display as they instinctively sized up the largest bovine in sight. The unfortunate creature continued grazing nonchalantly, his jaws monotonously moving around the same bit of grass time after time, as if savouring the simplistic taste.

Zoro debated jumping into the fray himself, hardly intimidated by Luffy's ravenous hunger and efforts. Not even two of the bottomless stomached moron could scare him off, something which he could now oddly claim from personal experience.

Still, his sword hand was stayed by the unmoving figure at his side. Kintaro remained almost statue-esque atop the hill, the shadows of his helmet shielding his eyes from scrutiny and making him seem detached from the surroundings.

Cold, uninterested and unmoved by all, even the sight before him that seemed dangerously close to the idea of a carnivore distilled to its most primal form.

Unapproachable was probably the best summation of the axe-warrior, Zoro decided, his hand unconsciously coming to rest on his sword hilt as his eye worked its hardest to keep Kintaro in the periphery of his vision without letting Luffy out of his sight. The consequences of losing their unpredictable captain were, well… unpredictable, to say the least.

Thus it was a strange event when a deep voice, caught in his mouth guard with an echo, began speaking at Zoro's side and drew his eye to the side.

"Why do you serve him?"

Zoro kept his mouth shut for a moment of contemplation, like a zebra sizing up a new creature at the watering hole, but soon shrugged his shoulders and diverted his eye.

"He's my captain," Zoro said vaguely, answering little to nothing.

Despite the shallowness of the response, Kintaro didn't seem disappointed (or much of anything for that matter).

"So you are the same."

"As what?"

"As me."

While their slow interaction came to its halt, a far more frantic frenzy wound itself down as Luffy and Risho threw the thin remains of their raw meal to the side. Neither man felt like standing as they collapsed onto their backs with a pair of relieved and contented sighs.

"Too bad we can only have one," Risho sighed.

"Why?! I'm hungry!" Luffy whined loudly.

Risho waved it off, "The island's supply won't last that long and I'm going to be here for a long time."

"Just go out to sea… ruling an island's boring for a pirate," Luffy objected while reaching over Risho's body with a stretched limb towards another cow.

Risho swatted the hand away and grinned sadly, "Ay were like that once. Ya'll'll learn soon enough."

"No I won't! That's stupid!" Luffy protested, sticking out his tongue as he sat up.

Risho pulled himself forward too and spoke with a surprising empathy for one apparently identical to Luffy, "Ah get ya, someone'll learn ya the same way they did me though. You should just kick it here."

"You'll like it here, ya'll can live like a king," Risho offered his hand forward with his usual crazed grin but Luffy slapped it away and pushed his forehead aggressively against Risho's.

"I don't want to live _like_ a king! I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" he yelled, his brow furrowed and his teeth bared.

"And ay'm tellin' ya that's crazy-talk. Ya'll 're gonna fail and lose most of yer crew as the consolation prize," Risho mimicked Luffy's movements and the two began pushing against one another.

They soon scrambled to their feet and continued their snarling match while their first mates looked on with disinterest, this type of battle between two men neither requiring nor welcoming either their involvement or that of any other third party.

Risho backed down first, shaking his head and moving away from the enraged Straw-Hat.

"Ay ain't gonna push ya but I stands by what I say. You will regret this," Risho spoke in a soberingly calm voice, his face completely devoid of emotion. "They'll be lying on the ground, beggin' ya ta save 'em and you'll just have ta try and save yer own skin instead."

Luffy pulled his eyelid down to make a childish face at Risho before turning and wandering back the way they'd came.

He addressed Zoro briefly, "I hate people like him, let's just go," and the two began their trek back to the Sunny, leaving whatever remained on the island in the same pile they left the phenomena behind ocean currents that Nami tried to explain in their minds. Not worth their time.

Risho shook his head and decided to take a more circuitous route around the island, having little interest in conflict with a man he simply considered misguided. His own adventures had dulled the flames that inspired such conflicts over matters pertaining to the philosophical (although he would have little chance of explaining that properly to other people).

He soon shook off any disappointment he was experiencing and whistled carelessly to himself, though a slight shadow grazed his expression as he did so. Kintaro took off after him at a slower pace, following along like a faithful knight.

Their arrival at their home was met with an unusual silence, none of their comrades having returned just yet. Risho was just fine with that but upon reaching for his fridge; his slightly pointed ears began twitching. The slightest 'bump' caught his notice and it didn't take long for a second one to follow, although this one was dragged out slightly longer.

"Someone's draggin' somthin' along the floors," Risho murmured before cracking his neck to the side. "Kinaro, wait here. Ay reckon ay need the exercise."

Taking his comrades silence as a yes, Risho stalked up the stairs upon quiet winds generated by his devil fruit, practically ice-skating towards his destination with a strange grace that underlay his experience.

He threw the door open but noticed no one immediately. He started glancing about his bedroom with an uncharacteristic intensity. His plain mattress spread out on the wooden floor, the wallpaper peeling off, the tiny table with the decorative furry reindeer sticking out from the side while hiding one of its eyes, a stain he couldn't quite remember making… hm.

He tilted his head this way and that trying to wrap his head around where the intruder could have gone, wandering closer to the closed window to see if the intruder had crawled out of it.

A gentle breeze caressed his face at the action, bringing a contented smile to his face as his thoughts were chased from his head (not that any of his comrades would have thought the task difficult) by a sense of familiarity he felt with the natural force.

The sound of pattering feet attempting a silent retreat all but dragged his head back in as Risho readied himself for combat. Risho's attitude came to a halt as he stared at the intruder, a tiny reindeer in a poofy hat.

Chopper was readying himself for combat when Risho let out a scream and jumped backwards as he screamed, "Living statue!"

A startled Chopper barely had a moment to react before a burst of wind flung him forward and sent his tiny body tumbling down the stairs like a bouncing ragdoll after he crashed through the upper-floor's white railing. Chopper's miniscule paws pushed against the ground as he stumbled to his feet, gingerly reaching to the back of his head to test the feeling there.

Wincing from the acute pain that followed, he purposefully raised one of his 'fingers' in front of his eyes, _"Usually one, only very rarely two… only a little bit concussed. Probably fine."_

Risho soon followed, slamming both of his feet down hard while Chopper barely managed to hop out of the way. The floor splintered beneath Risho's bare feet and sent wood chippings flying into the air.

"You tried ta trick me!" Risho roared accusingly while jutting out his finger aggressively.

The little reindeer decided discretion was the better part of valour and took off running on his stubby little legs. Risho tried to give chase but his feet caught in the damage he'd made in the floorboard. Frowning angrily, Risho ripped at his legs while shouting, "Come on! Not now!"

Chopper continued to flee, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he darted past the unmoving Kintaro without so much as a second glance. Risho did likewise, Kintaro giving them both a head start before slowly following to observe the aftermath.

Changing into his 'Walking Point', Chopper attempted to sprint away only to be quickly overtaken by Risho who landed in front of him with a high jump. Seeing no alternative, Chopper fattened his limbs, returning to a more human-esque appearance while placing one paw forward in challenge.

"Kung-Fu Point!"

**Author's Note: Again, sorry for the delay.**


End file.
